The present invention relates broadly to home appliances having apparatus for controlling fuel flow. More particularly, the present invention relates to a home appliance having a gas control apparatus using an automated valve actuator for selectively controlling fuel flow in a self-cleaning gas-fueled range.
A home appliance such as a range, or stove, often includes both a maintop, or cooktop, for surface cooking and an oven for internal baking, broiling and roasting. Often, both the maintop and the oven are fueled by gas which can provide heat more quickly and provide enhanced temperature control when compared to their electrical counterparts.
Gas is routed through the range body with piping and is directed to each of the burners of the maintop as well as each of the burners in the oven. Often, the gas destined for the oven is separated from the maintop gas at a pressure regulator disposed within the range body that receives a gas feed from local facilities and can serve as a distribution center for the gas, directing one stream to the maintop and a separate stream to the oven.
One type of pressure regulator includes a body formed with an input and two outputs, one output for maintop gas and another output for oven gas. The oven gas output portion includes a manually operated valve formed integrally with the regulator body and defining a generally tubular portion on one side of the regulator body. A manual valve operator projects from one end of the tubular portion and the oven gas output is in the opposite end of the tubular portion from the valve operator.
As is generally known for electric ovens, gas ovens can also be configured for self-cleaning, i.e. pyrolytic cleaning, which occurs under high heat, with oven temperatures possibly exceeding 750° F. (about 400° C.). The pyrolysis process usually takes more than an hour and generally reduces the oven contents to ashes that can be easily removed from the oven.
Since the maintop often overlies the oven, the gas delivery to the maintop can often pass between the maintop and the oven body. As may be expected, temperatures immediately adjacent the oven body are often extremely elevated with the internal oven temperature greater than 750° F. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide extensive shielding above the oven to maintain a reasonable temperature at the gas conduits directing gas to the maintop.
From a manufacturing and cost standpoint, it would be desirable to reduce the need for the extensive shielding over the oven in a manner that is both effective and economical.
It is known generally to disable or lock out gas to the maintop in order to alter the thermal requirements in the area above the oven. Others have approached this problem with solutions that can be expensive to incorporate both in manufacturing difficulty and parts expense. In that regard, additional valves have been inserted in the maintop gas conduits within the range. These valves are operable to prevent gas from reaching the area over the oven during self-cleaning. Such approaches address the problem of shielding reduction, yet there remains the problem of doing so while being more economical from both a manufacturing difficulty standpoint and a parts expenditure standpoint.